I have been craving this like mad, but obviously haven't indulged because the crust is made with pretzels. I remember that when I served it to friends, I told them to guess what the crust was made of and the first person said pecans so ..........

Can you see where I'm going with this?

I'm going to try and make this tonight (or sometime soon) subbing crushed pecans for the pretzels, using sugarfree jello and homemade whipped cream (the old version called for cool whip).

Now here is my question .... is there anything I can put in the whipped cream to make it firmer/stiffer since I have to mix it with softened cream cheese?

Sometimes I put 1T of vanilla SF instant pudding (powder) in the cream before I whip it. It holds up well and doesn't break down. However, when I mix whipped cream with cream cheese, it's pretty thick.

I can't believe I'm seeing this post! I lost my recipe box when we moved recently and I just last week emailed my mom to send me this very recipe, as I wanted to tool around with it and see if I could lc it!

How wild that you are doing the same thing! I also had a thought about just not doing the bottom crust, too. I think the pecans are a great idea.

This is SO good. When I brought it over to a friends house, I didn't tell anyone what it was and after they took their first bite I asked them what they thought the crust was. Pecans was the consensus. LOL When I told them what it was, they said that they would have been hesitant to try the dessert if they knew the name of it beforehand.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Press this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch pan and bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled.
In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

I think subbing Splenda for sugar, real whipped cream for the whipped topping, and sugar-free jello would be great... maybe make the crust of crushed almonds or pecans or both. Might want to add a little salt to it, that's definitely one of the keys to the pretzel crust's good flavor.

Good luck!

__________________"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

Mix crushed pecans with all of the above and put in a pan. Bake at 400 until golden.

Boil water and mix in gelatin until dissolved, set aside until cool. Make whipping cream, put in bowl and then beat cream cheese w/ splenda. Fold the two together and spread over the cooled crust. Let chill for a little bit (30 minutes maybe?), then pour over the strawberry jello and refrigerate until set.

It's really yummy. Next time I will crush the pecans more (maybe even use almonds!) and will add a touch more sugar.

It is really delicious though!

I will be making this for Christmas for sure!

P.S. I tried to edit the recipe, but I couldn't. In the instructions, it sounds like you should mix EVERYTHING together on the first step, but I meant that only the pecans, salt, splenda and butter should be mixed together.

I just ate a piece and I'm STUFFED. I'm going to try my hand on ****** to figure carb count.

Dana Carpender's recipe for Margarita Cheesecake has a Sweet-and-Salty Almond Crust that might work for this recipe. She says the original recipe had called for crushed pretzels.

Erin---

Margarita Cheesecake

I saw Emeril make a Margarita Cheesecake on his show one night, and I had to decarb it the very next day! Fabulous. You can make this with cream cheese and sour cream, if you like, for added richness, or with Neufchatel and plain yogurt, for a lower calorie count with no increase in carbs. Remember: This cake has actual tequila in it, and the filling isn't heated, so you may not want to serve it to kids, and certainly shouldn't serve it to recovering alcoholics.

1/4 cup tequila (I used Sauza, which I find far smoother than Cuervo.)

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

Sweet-and-Salty Almond Crust (see following recipe)

Combine the gelatin and Splenda in a saucepan, and pour the boiling water over them. Stir over low heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Turn off the burner.

Put the softened cream or Neufchatel cheese in a mixing bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until very soft and creamy. (If you have a stand mixer, you can start the cheese beating before you dissolve the gelatin, and just leave the mixer mixing on its own.) When the cheese is very smooth and creamy, add the cream cheese or yogurt, and beat that in well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Now beat in the lime juice, grated lime rind, orange extract, and tequila. Now, go back to your saucepan of gelatin. It should still be liquid! If it's not, you'll need to heat it again gently. Beat the gelatin mixture into the cheese mixture and make sure everything is every well combined. Pour into the Sweet-and-Salty Almond Crust, and chill for at least 4 or 5 hours, and overnight is better.

Run a knife around the cake, between the cake and the pan, before removing the rim. Slice with a thin-bladed knife - dipping the knife it hot water before each slice is a good idea, although not essential.

Garnish with paper-thin slices of lime, strips of lime zest, or both.

12 servings, each with 11 grams of carbohydrate and 2 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of 9 grams. Made with Neufchatel or lite cream cheese and yogurt, this will have 328 calories per serving. Made with cream cheese and sour cream, it will have 407 calories per serving

Sweet-and-Salty Almond Crust

Emeril made his crust with crushed pretzels, to get that salty note so characteristic of margaritas. We're not going to use pretzels, of course, so I came up with this crust instead. It's great with the margarita-flavored filling!

1 1/2 cups almonds

1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder

1/4 cup Splenda

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon kosher salt (I like kosher salt for this because the larger grains make a real contribution)

Preheat oven to 325. Have a springform pan assembled and well-sprayed with non-stick cooking spray on hand.

Put your almonds in your food processor, with the S-blade in place. Run the food processor until the almonds are ground. Add the vanilla whey protein powder and Splenda, and pulse to mix. You may need to open the processor and run a knife around the bottom edge, to get everything into the path of the blade. Now, turn the processor on and pour in the butter while it's running. Let everything blend - and once again, you may need to do the knife-around-the-bottom-edge-of-the-processor trick. When the butter is evenly distributed, turn the processor off. Add the kosher salt, and pulse the processor just enough to distribute the salt through the mixture.

Press firmly into the prepared pan, making sure you cover the seam around the bottom - but don't expect to be able to build it all the way up the sides or anything. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden, and cool.

dizneegirl, would you use the whole frozen strawberries, 16 oz, or are you thawing them, and adding sweetener, then adding to the mix?
The first recipe calls for 2 10 oz pkg, so I assume those are sweetened, so am just wondering.
I want to make this for Christmas. Also, do you have any idea of how many servings?
I thought to make it in 2 pans, 10 x 10 each, take half to my daughters on Christmas day, then have the remainder for Sunday's big party. It seems like the whole recipe should make somewhere between 18 and 24 servings, what do you think? This will be in addition to many other things, so I expect small servings. If you think it would be less servings, then I suppose I could make a recipe and a half, what do you thing?

Following is the actual recipe I found (please note, this is a high-carb version ). I'm pretty sure with the 1 cup sugar, they're calling for the unsweetened frozen strawberries (I think they usually come in 16 oz. bags, don't they?)... looks like they're thawed while you're making it. I think 8 servings out of a 9x13 pan would make for pretty big servings. If you made two of them, I think you'd have no problem getting 24 servings. Hope this helps:

In a medium bowl, beat the sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir together the gelatin mix and boiling water. Mix in frozen strawberries, and stir until thawed. Pour over cream cheese mixture in pan. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.

I just wanted to say that I found some lower carb pretzels at my grocery store. They are by the maker (Schneider, I believe) that first came out with those honey mustard flavored pretzel nubs? Anyway, the silver package was for lower carb pretzel logs...might be something to consider if splurging a bit for the holiday.

I should have said they are Carb Fix pretzels by Snyder of Hanover (see their website), and they advertise 50% fewer carbs than regular pretzels (it looks like 1 oz has 21 carbs and 9 fiber). Not very low, but just FYI

Mix crushed pecans with all of the above and put in a pan. Bake at 400 until golden.

Boil water and mix in gelatin until dissolved, set aside until cool. Make whipping cream, put in bowl and then beat cream cheese w/ splenda. Fold the two together and spread over the cooled crust. Let chill for a little bit (30 minutes maybe?), then pour over the strawberry jello and refrigerate until set.

I hope it's good. Anyone know the carb count?

I know this is a very old post, but I'm taking a chance someone can help me. I am fairly new to low carb (Feb. 4!) and still can't get the hang of calculating carbs in recipes. Can someone help me and post how many carbs they think are in this? Thank you so much!